Attachment Tutorial Supplement

This corresponds with the full (A and B combined) tutorial.

In a moment you will be provided with a link to the actual interactive tutorial which will take you through a specific process of attaching an image file to an email. We're starting you off here for a couple of reasons. First of all, we'd like to specify the equipment and software which we believe will work best for this tutorial. This is spelled out below. Secondly, in the process of putting your test attachment together, you will need to have a second Internet window open for viewing. Getting you familiarized with what we'll call a "multiple window environment" can start right away.

Prerequisite email account, equipment, and software: The student must have a personal login ID and password for USF’s WebMail. Also, the student must have access to the Internet with Microsoft Internet Explorer. Please make sure to use a machine which has Windows 95 or later (with Microsoft's Internet Explorer). If you're not sure whether you have this, but your machine is relatively new, you probably do. If you want to make sure that your host machine meets the requirements for running the tutorial, then we suggest that you go to the library at USF where machines are available (to all students with valid Student ID cards) which definitely meet the requirements. If it is the login ID and password for WebMail which you need, please go to the WebMail link you'll find as the supplement to Frame 38 (below) now and confer with their "Who Can Sign-up?" information -- otherwise please wait until you are prompted to go there. In other words, please give us the courtesy of working through the tutorial. We promise that it will be relatively painless.

You might be able to work with Outlook Express when you go throught the attaching process. The webpage here might be helpful should you wish to go that route.

Once you get going, all parties involved would like you to be able to work through the tutorial without a great amount of effort. The tutorial is intentionally interactive (beyond having to send a couple of test emails -- one with an attachment), so along the way you will need to respond to the tutorial frames.

We'd appreciate serious responses to each of the Attachment Tutorial's frames. As you go through these frames, within the text "(see also ATS)" will indicate that something more might be found on this Supplement page. If you'd like to see that, merely scroll down to the corresponding number on the left which should match your frame number (not all frames will have supplementary information here). It may not be necessary for you to consult this page for a "(see also ATS)" reference. The corresponding information provided here, in that case, is indeed only supplemental. (It could help, however.) There will be a couple of instances where you will see an "(ATS required)" remark while working through the frames. At these prompts you are asked to specifically consult this page.

We'd like to recognize the Center for Programmed Instruction and thank them for providing the PI Player which you will soon see. Before you dive in, it might be worth reading through these brief instructions (which we also thank CPI for providing).


Instructions for working through the On-Line Attachment Tutorial

1. You will be given TWO tries to correctly answer each question frame, unless otherwise noted. If incorrect on your first attempt, you will be given feedback and asked to try again.

2. Most, if not all, frames require you to fill in blanks. Many blanks will have "help" letters, like this: Mary had a little l___b. Make sure to type ALL of the letters of the answer, including the help letters.

3. Some frames will have multiple blanks, like this: M___y had a little l___b. For your answer, simply include a space between the words, like this: Mary lamb.

4. After a few frames, your cumulative percent correct score will be displayed. If your score falls below 50%, you will be required to re-start the tutorial.



Now, here is a link to the Attachment Tutorial. When you've clicked (click, by itself, will always mean LEFT-click) the link (the underlined words "Attachment Tutorial," above), you should be provided with an "Attachment Tutorial" window. By first clicking on "Attachment Tutorial Supplement" you should get this information once again, but in a "separate window," rather than having this information appear over the "Attachment Tutorial" window. Then select the first tutorial and begin, refering to this reestablished page when necessary.

We encourage you to investigate window minimization, maximization, and resizing, however we'd like you keep this window open in addition to the PI Player. For now, just don't close this -- and certainly don't close the PI Player. You should be okay as long as you stay away from the "x" in the upper right-hand corner of this (and most every) window. You can safely minimize (with the underscore icon) a window to an icon and bring it back later with a click on that icon.

If this is already sounding "fuzzy," we'll look at this some more in the actual tutorial. On the other hand, if some of this seems overly remedial, please hang in there and have fun with it if you can. You might even consider letting us know (in one of your requested emails) how this tutorial might be improved. This would actually be much appreciated, even. Our apologies in advance, by the way, for any deficiencies you might encounter in this tutorial.



Frame Supplements

4. You can quite literally think of a directory as a "file of files." We will consider directories only marginally. Don't let the term intimidate you.


6. When we finally get to it, we'll be working with a ".jpg"-type of file. In case you might wonder, this stands for Joint Photographic Expert Group. The format is very popular for it's well-handled by many different computers.


9. As mentioned earlier "clicking" implies "left-clicking," otherwise we'd specifically say "right-clicking." Naturally, "double-clicking" implies "double-left-clicking." If you should have a middle button on your mouse, we don't need to worry about that. By the way, double-right-clicking doesn't do anything special. Also, your cursor may very well look like the image below.



11. It may be necessary to move your cursor back to the response area of the PI Player window and click there before you can type your response. Note that the window that you are working with will have an icon below that appears to be a depressed button -- in contrast to the other raised buttons.


13. Alternatively, the same thing is generally accomplished by simply clicking the icon of a minimized window.


19. There is almost always more than one way to do something. You might wish to also investigate the "jewel behind your clock." Right-click the time (usually in the lower right-hand corner), and you will see options to cascade or tile. These can be very handy, but the specific approach outlined in the tutorial works well also.


21. Often, non-maximized windows will have a triangular series of bars in the lower right-hand corner of the window. You might think of this as a place to grip and pull (or push) the window's border. Maximized windows generally lack these "gripper bars," and you don't always get them with every window.


24. Sorry, there's an error here that we can't fix right now. You will get the "CORRECT" response if you type "window window."


27. There's another little glitch here, too. Type only the directory letter, not the word "file" and that letter.


34. Students submitting projects are free to use the server of their choice. We've required the use of this server here only to be sure that students will see things in precise positions. If you try another server, merely locate the corresponding elements of that email server to those of WebMail to be described in subsequent frames, and use them accordingly. For the tests you will soon perform, we aren't interested in the details of your actual project. Please remember, however, that there is a desired format (arrangement of information) for the body of your email (the non-attached part) which is described in the "structure" pages (the place which presumably got you here originally).


38. You'll find that you can never really be sure what a particular machine is going to do. The WebMail link is supposed to provide you with a separate window of its own. It's possible, however, that WebMail will insist on loading over the page it's accessed from. This is why we felt it was better to place the link here rather than directly within the tutorial. Click on this link: https://mailbox.acomp.usf.edu


39. Notice that you have an icon below for each of the windows currently open. It's not going to hurt to have an extra window open, and we're ready to BROWSE with My Computer, if that's still available.


41. When it comes to sending MUG your actual "project picture," DON'T send text combined with your image. Some students like to work from a Word program that allows you to place images within your document. We've had difficulty in extracting some of these images, so please attach ONLY the image -- not a Word file containing your image. You should be safe if the file you send does NOT have the extension ".doc" or ".txt" -- since these file types implicitly contain text.


45. Notice that you can toggle (or make prominent) any of your windows by using the icons in the lower bar.


47. For example, you wouldn't look for a seafood platter under "Appetizers." Until you get familiar with your computer's directories, it is best to keep things simple. It makes browsing a lot easier. When you get good at this stuff, you'll want to put things in appropriate areas (like "My Pictures," perhaps) relatively deep within the directory structure.


49. You should know that browsing My Computer isn't actally required in the process of sending attachments. It is a truly worthy exercise, however, since it aids in the required browsing during the "Attaching" step. It can be frustrating to browse for something that's not even there, and if you consult My Computer first, you'll know whether you truly have a file or not.


50. This supplementary area is useful here since we are able to display a test image which serves as a good example of the file size and physical dimensions of images MUG likes. (The dimensions would probably need to be reduced if it were to be comfortably placed in the PI Player frame.) It's possible that the image is not completely visible -- the right-hand portion might extend beyond the right border. Don't worry about that. You'll still get the entire picture when you SAVE the image. When using Internet Explorer, any image can generally be captured off the Internet by placing the cursor over the image and right-clicking. You must make sure that your cursor is indeed positioned OVER the image, however, or you will not get the appropriate options relating to the image (you'll probably see options relating to the entire web page, instead).




52. If you go to your "My Computer’s" C: window following (rather than befor) the save, the file 'utreeonly' will be arranged (usually alphabetically) amongst the previously existing files (rather than "at the b__________"). This should be enough to demonstrate the usefullness of "My Computer." In the future, you may wish to alter file names for easier recognition when browsing.


53. We expect you to take copyrights seriously. Naturally, you must be granted permission to use anything copyrighted, and that permission would not necessarily be extended to MUG, anyway. If you use an image captured off the Internet, be safe and MAKE SURE THAT IT IS NOT COPYRIGHTED. You are free to use our umbrella tree picture in any way you wish -- it is not copyrighted.


57. We chose directory C:, since everybody has that directory. As mentioned in the tutorial, A: can be used, if you're working with a floppy disk. We don't need the C: (or A:) listing from My Computer, anymore, so feel free to close that window if you wish. Take care, of course, NOT to close the PI Player window, though -- we're almost done now and we'd like you to complete the few frames that remain.


59. The tutorial is designed to get you through this emailing even if you've never sent one before. Chances are, you have used emails before. In case this is new to you, however, the only fields you really need to supply information for are the "To:" and "Subject:" areas. You can even get by without a subject, generally, but it's considered good form to always include a subject. The large area is meant for the main message (so you'd probably like to throw something in there, too -- repeat your name and "test1," if you wish). Again we are NOT asking you to attach anything at this point. Also note that you will temporalily have a new window until your email is sent. Like others, this window can be resized and moved.


60. You can also send us any text message you wish, but that’s not required here. Since there is a time factor, though, you may wish to simply include your name and "test2" in this email's body, and save your praise of the tutorial for a later email. Please keep in mind for your future submission, that the "Attach" step, generally, should take no more than a few seconds. While a few seconds is not a problem, taking a few minutes indicates that you might be trying to attach too much.


62. If you have your actual file ready to go, you can go through the process again and send the real thing to MUG. Include your brief abstract description as simple text within the body of your email. If you don't have your actual file ready at this time, get it ready, and then give it a try later. You can change your IMP "INBOX" to "sent-mail" using the upper left pull-down menu. From here you can see what you've sent. You can, of course even send yourself an email. As you see, attachments are clearly indicated by the inclusion of a paper-clip icon.


If you received 90% or better on this tutorial, and your "sent times" aren't more than five minutes apart, then we’ve succeeded. If you've been unable to get something to work, please try again and make sure to use an IE machine which has Windows 95 or later. Again, the library at USF has such machines and these are available to all students with valid Student ID cards.

We hope you've found this tutorial to be helpful. Happy attaching.